MINUTES MEETINGS/EVENTS – IRISH NETWORK OF THE ALF – Galway 15TH & 16TH June 2017 Attendees : 15 organizations were represented at the official meeting held at the Centre for Creative Arts & Media at GMIT, Galway plus young representatives from the NYCI and guest speakers from Morocco. Volunteers from the rural X-PO featured at the capacity building event on 16th June. Meeting of the Irish Network :: Friday 16th June 2017 3-6pm, GMIT Galway ALF Ireland members ALF related activities 2017. • ‘Transforming Shadows’: Irish- Lebanon exchange project with young people as change makers in conflict transformation. Presentation by young participants in the National Youth Council of Ireland ALF-funded project, introduced by Anne Walsh, Intercultural and Equality Officer, NYCI and featuring two of the young adults involved. Results of the project and videos produced will shortly be featured on the NYCI website. http://www.youth.ie/ • ALF Handbook on Intercultural Citizenship: The ALF regional training aimed at building the capacity of educators to support them in organizing educational activities promoting intercultural dialogue in their communities. Nadia Moussed spoke of the uniqueness of this educational tool. Her comments were supported by the Head of the Moroccan network, Mohamed Fahmi. Nadia is available to talk to individual and groups of trainers. HoN will look at ways of facilitating this in order to maintain the momentum. See http://www.annalindhfoundation.org/sites/annalindh.org/files/documents/p… • Crossnetwork activity. Both Ireland and Morocco are two of the partners in this project proposal headed by Tunisia. The project is titled ‘ Intercultural artistic expression in fragile areas’ and the proposed date is 8-12th Sept in Tunisia. HoN will update members as soon as further information is received. Currently SIX members of the Irish network are interested in participating. ALF Phase V 2018-2020. The programmes will be formulated based on four broad pillars: (a) Intercultural Trends & Media; (b) Young Med Voices; (c) Learning & Intercultural Cities; & (d) Med & Net connect – to facilitate collaborations among civil society organisations north and south. Mohamed Fahmi, Head of the Moroccan Network, gave his input into these projects. He firstly stressed that the closing date for the Exchange Programme has been extended to 2nd July 2018. Members were urged to check out the guidelines on http://www.annalindhfoundation.org/news/take-part-unique-exchange-opport……. Members were also urged to be proactive in coming forward with proposals specifically for the ‘Learning & Intercultural Cities’ programme as this is something new and will give the opportunity to organizations and members to be proactive in what features in the programme. Coordinator will update members as the Work Plan for 2018 advances. Presentation by artist Mohamed Fariji, on the work of L’atelier De L’observatoire. This artist led residency programme operating from rural and urban sites close to the city of Casablanca. This presentation closely tied in with the capacity building event which took place on Saturday 17th June in the Burren area of rural Ireland (see below). A.O.B. (1) Election of Ireland head of network for the 2018-2020 Phase V. Triskel Arts Centre’s continued mandate was proposed & seconded. The coordinator went on to inform members that Ireland’s representatives on the Boards of Governors are now Shona Dunne and Claire Fitzgibbon and that both are very supportive of the Ireland ALF activities and recently attended the meeting in Dublin on June 7th where the NYCI project was showcased. They are based in the DFA Middle East & North Africa unit. (2) Cliodhna Noonan asked members for support for a project involving young theatre makes from Iran and Israel who are looking for a residency in Ireland. See ‘Sharon’s video: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_3GQcOxhPlUN2N2YjV4bVFmM28 (3) Members to look at ways of how to generate project ideas independent of formal ALF activities. While this is being done informally by some, others are interested in exploring how this could be formalized. HoN is very keen to support any ideas on how to proceed. Note : Members were accommodated in the small town of Kinvara on the night of Friday 16th June and had the occasion to network and meet up informally. New member Melanie Lynch, HERSTORY, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath was welcomed to the group. ————————————————————————— Sat. 16th June 2017 Capacity Building event. Organized by artist member, Dr. Deirdre O’Mahony. Theme: ‘keeping the sustainability of our rural communities in focus’ Visit X-PO: Short presentations by members of X-PO Mapping group on their research work into naming and tracing the inhabitants of houses in Kilnaboy Parish going back to the earliest records; local architect spoke about the projects he has made and curated at X-PO, Deirdre O’Mahony spoke about some of the archives accumulated at X-PO ; members took a walk to the historic old church at Kilnaboy which has a Sheila-na-gig and an 8C Round tower, and to the Cabhail Mhór, a 16C structure preserved, like the church, by local volunteers. Discussion took place on the issues facing rural communities in Ireland and how these were being addressed. The issue of how to involve young people, and how to sustain projects, was a particular focus…. Most of the Irish members had never been to this area of the country and were deeply moved by the engagement of the community. Suggestion was made that the Irish network continue to explore different areas of the country to expand their awareness of the unique and shared issues of concern. —————————————————————————-